In early spring, 2007, I conducted a photography tour along the routes used by various people to reach the San Joaquin Valley of California, from Okies and Texans in the 1930s to the influx of Latinos in the latter half of the 20th Century.

The San Joaquin Valley, which is the southern two thirds of the Great Central Valley of California, is perhaps the richest agricultural valley in the world. It lies between the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains to the east, and the Coast Range Mountains to the west.

We found a diverse range of subjects, from people to wildflowers, from animals to architecture, including the few building still standing at the Sunset Labor Camp, the place made famous in the John Steinbeck novel, Grapes of Wrath. Our explorations to us to the Central Valley towns of Bakersfield, Arvin, and Weedpatch, and into the Tehachapi Mountains, and along a variety of old highways and back roads.